Louis L'Amour,General Custer, and the Inkslinger

A dear and dedicated "Inkslinger," once the owner and editor of my home town newspaper, The Buffalo Times-Herald, now lives in Arco Idaho and writes a column in the paper there. His sons carry on the dedication of their father.

Not long ago he wrote the following:
"Among the good books loaned by friends is a magnificent book on hunting experiences in areas like Arizona brought by Glenn Phillips, and one in particular by a daughter-in-law, the early seafaring stories by Louis L’Amour.

L’Amour, a native of Jamestown, North Dakota, became one of the very leaders of all the writers of western pioneer life, and it was a fortunate day some fifty years ago when the old Inkslinger had the opportunity and the honor of assisting him in gathering on-the-scene history of the exploration of the Custer Expedition in what is now northwestern South Dakota, where the old Inkslinger had spent every available spare weekend day following and tracking the historical expedition which led to the claiming of the Black Hills of South Dakota back in 1976 and starting one of the famous gold rushes in the country.

In the North and South Cave Hills in Harding County, back in the late 1930s and 1940s, it was discovered the Custer Expedition had left their names and initials and dates carved in the scoria of what was known as Thumb Butte and in the Ludlow Cave, as well as other evidence of their journey, and the petroglyphs carved by the Sioux Indian Tribes in the sandstone rimrock of the Cave Hills. Much of this early history, of course, had been destroyed or defaced over the years by other initial carvers and vandals.

Louis L’Amour was a very interesting man to visit with and was an avid student of the building and “taming” of the American West.

The Inkslinger had always known L’Amour’s stories of the West, but this latest gift book was the first we knew of his life as a seaman and a world-wide gold hunter."

Thanks for that interesting bit of information, Mr. Cammack.